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To commemorate a hundred years since the first World War, the Liverpool Biennial has commissioned artists to paint warships. The ships pay homage to the geometric “dazzle” camouflage which was used to confused German U-Boats. [The Art Newspaper]

“The wealthiest of the wealthy now view art as an alternative currency.” That’s former Christie’s chairman and current art advisor Amy Cappellazzo, on the seemingly-unstoppable auction boom. Last week, Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips raised a total of $340 million in London– up 26% from last year. The piece suggests that more people aren’t collecting, but the small pool of blue chip collectors is getting bolder. [The New York Times]

Leslie Hewitt addresses those protesting her decision to talk on Carl Andre at Dia. Noting that her “position was assumed powerless, and [her] voice was registered inert or lacking a critical stance,” she said: “I reject this premise, and have the audacity to go off script — as a woman who does not render patriarchy invisible in my daily life, as a woman of color who has the long view, with pragmatism in mind, and as an artist who utilizes historical distance strategically as a way to address art history through a personal, social, and political lens.” [Hyperallergic]

A listing for a two-bedroom apartment in The Beresford on the Upper West Side is going for $3.395 million, which sounds normal except for the fact that every square foot of the apartment is covered in taxidermy. Is this beautiful, cruel, or just plain unsettling? [Curbed NY]

Art world sexism, by the numbers: in percentages of male artists, Sperone Westwater comes in at 91, Team at 85, and Matthew Marks at 84. All these stats and more were collected by the open source internet project Gallery Tally, with posters visualizing the disparity. Gallery Tally needs to connect with Brainstormers. [The Art Newspaper]

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced they will use $23 million for arts education in this year’s budget to hire 120 new arts teachers at under-served middle and high schools. [WNYC]

Seems like India is no exception to the recent increase in counterfeit art. Indian dealers and gallerists are proposing to set up a regulatory body to comb all art sales for forgeries. Could this be a solution to the increased circulation of expensive forgeries in the art market? [Business Standard]

A slide show of some of the world’s most outsized animals. Creepy. [Trends Addict]

In Brave New World-like science news: a birth control pill that can be ingested and then release contraceptive drugs by remote control for as long as sixteen years. Hacking is a foreseeable problem. [The Verge]

Michael Anthony Farley has praise for a show of fresh nudes, so gushing that we want to go down to Baltimore to see it in person. His use of this quote in particular, by Willem de Kooning: “Flesh is the reason oil paint was invented.” [Bmore Art]

Artist Stuart Pilkington asked 98 photographers to submit an image that was inspired by a book, film or painting. As you can imagine that’s lots of contrived imagery in this series, which is exactly what memes are made of. [Stuart Pilkington]

Only Ken Johnson would look at Thomas Houseago’s exaggerated masculine sculptures and think, “Poor Masculinity, he’s but a shell of his former self. He’s been in decline for a long time — since as far back as the Industrial Revolution, one might say, when people began turning into cogs. Lately, what with the shifts in gender roles and sex, and the moral undoing of so many male heroes, he finds his prerogatives challenged on every front.” Anyway, he’s visited The Storm King Art Center. [The New York Times]

XFR STN, a summer project from the New Museum, has begun posting recently converted video online. The results are pretty sweet. [Rhizome]

The future is now: with advances in 3D scanning and 3D printing a company called Twinkind can make a tiny, life-like replica of you for $300. Compare this to a 2011 3D scan of Paddy’s head and it’s amazing how far this technology has come. [Wired]

Oh, this is great: Old photographs of artists in their studios. [Hyperallergic]

Brooklyn-based conceptual artist Eric Doeringer gets a review for his show at Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects in Toronto. Critic Murray Whyte says the show is better than a collection of one liners, it’s institutional critique. A thoughtful review. [The Toronto Star]